Great! Claire's Camera is a little gem, and I haven't had a chance to see the other one.

Western is also a very impressive film, and will present some real transfer and authoring challenges, as a number of key scenes are unlit night shots where you can only barely make out what's going on (deliberately so). Too bright and you'll lose tension and ambiguity; too dark and it'll just be dirt soup.

I'm in the opposite boat—I haven't seen Claire's Camera but did see On the Beach at Night Alone, and was so struck by it I rewatched it the next day. The handling of the female POV felt very different than anything I've seen from Hong and the whole thing is infused with this sort of optimistic melancholy (Happy Together comes to mind, even though nobody will ever mistake Hong for Wong). It's genuinely haunting in multiple senses of the word, with a seemingly supernatural aspect that I don't think Hong has done before.

That's interesting, because I was struck by Claire's Camera being one of the most female-focussed Hong films to date. The one male character is not a focal one, and his main role is to help define / distinguish three women.

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:I'm in the opposite boat—I haven't seen Claire's Camera but did see On the Beach at Night Alone, and was so struck by it I rewatched it the next day. The handling of the female POV felt very different than anything I've seen from Hong and the whole thing is infused with this sort of optimistic melancholy (Happy Together comes to mind, even though nobody will ever mistake Hong for Wong). It's genuinely haunting in multiple senses of the word, with a seemingly supernatural aspect that I don't think Hong has done before.

You need to go back to The Power of Kangwon Province to see Hong tackle the supernatural (better than almost anybody else does - if you're not paying close attention you might not even notice that dimension of the film).

The Fanciful Norwegian wrote:I'm in the opposite boat—I haven't seen Claire's Camera but did see On the Beach at Night Alone, and was so struck by it I rewatched it the next day. The handling of the female POV felt very different than anything I've seen from Hong and the whole thing is infused with this sort of optimistic melancholy (Happy Together comes to mind, even though nobody will ever mistake Hong for Wong). It's genuinely haunting in multiple senses of the word, with a seemingly supernatural aspect that I don't think Hong has done before.

You need to go back to The Power of Kangwon Province to see Hong tackle the supernatural (better than almost anybody else does - if you're not paying close attention you might not even notice that dimension of the film).

I don't think I've ever considered Hong Sang-soo's work as displaying supernatural flourishes (neither of the above-mentioned films), and it's not something I've read anywhere either. Curious what you have in mind regarding The Power of Kangwon Province.

Re: the pleasures of the latest round of films, Hong's films centered around women have arguably been his best (Nobody's Daughter Haewon probably the best example that's been kicking around for a while) but I think Kim Minhee really brought something into the director's production that wasn't there before, particularly this kind of optimistic melancholy that others have mentioned. Having spent so much time with his work, Right Now, Wrong Then took me by surprise for how affecting it was, primarily a consequence of Kim's performance. The same quality is visible in On the Beach at Night Alone and Claire's Camera, and that's also why I found The Day After to be a bit of a letdown as her character in that film is generally marginal to principal dramatic conflict. It's also more difficult to watch without reading some degree of intentionality or autobiographical quality in it, which is certainly the least interesting way into Hong's work. I wonder why Cinema Guild didn't pick it up with the others (perhaps more costly for getting a Cannes comp slot), or why a company like Grasshopper Film doesn't just scoop up the undistributed titles on the cheap to fill out their catalogue, even if they just end up on streaming platforms.

It's been a very long time since I've seen The Power of Kangwon Province and I doubt I'd remember what zedz is alluding to even if it were spelled out, but regarding On the Beach at Night Alone I'm talking about

SpoilerShow

the man in black who carries off Younghee on the beach in Germany and then reappears on the balcony of a hotel room in Korea, without any acknowledgement from the multiple characters who enter and leave during the course of the scene. Hong being Hong there may well be some subtle clues pointing to a "logical" explanation (like, say, a dream sequence, a device Hong has used with some frequency), but I personally couldn't suss out any answer so neat, and I'm not the only one who feels that way—see, for example, Michael Sicinski's take. Supernatural or not I can't think of another figure of this sort of ambiguity in Hong's filmography.

cinemaguild wrote:Confirmed bonus features for IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA --

- Some Photos in the City of Sylvia (2007, 65 minutes)
- In the City of Lotte (7 minutes)
- Vignettes:
Women Waiting for the Tram
Woman Waiting for the Tram
Train Strasbourg-Paris
- Teaser Trailer
- Essay by film critic Jonathan Rosenbaum

The film will be in its original aspect ratio of 1.66:1 with a French Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack.

Please add it to your Netflix queue, even if you've already seen the film or intend to purchase. Thanks!

Hello. A question has come to me. In all websites mentioned that In the City of Sylvia's runtime is 84 min. While all versions are (1:21:46) min. I wanted to know Cinemaguild's version is really 84 min? And if no i'll be thankful to know why? Thanks again.